


New York Sunsets

by AishaRao



Category: Avengers, Marvel, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Apologies, Avengers - Freeform, Avengers Tower, Awkwardness, Cinnamon Roll Peter Parker, Colors, Confessions, F/M, First Dates, Fluff, Headcanon, Love, Marvel Universe, Miscommunication, New York, One Shot, Romance, Silly, Sweet, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, Young Love, somebody help these dumb kids, sunset
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 11:17:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20007427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AishaRao/pseuds/AishaRao
Summary: Here's the thing about young love:It's awkward. It's stupid. It's silly. It's complicated. It's frustrating. It's mind-bogglingly ridiculous.But when you find it. . .You realize that none of those descriptions mattered in the first place.________________________________________________________________________________________"I just need you and some sunsets."-Atticus





	New York Sunsets

**Author's Note:**

> NEED-TO-KNOWS BEFORE READING!
> 
> ∙In this universe, Peter Parker is not New York's only Spider-Person.  
> ∙After being bitten by a radioactive spider, Alia Rai begins operating as "Huntsman" and becomes Peter Parker's  
> partner-in-justice.  
> ∙Quite some time after they start working together, the two develop feelings for each other but are too stubborn to  
> accept it or do anything about it.  
> ∙After a particularly nasty battle in which Peter almost dies, Alia is so relieved that he's okay that she declares "Life is  
> too short to worry" and kisses him without thinking.  
> ∙Following a mental breakdown over her actions, Eve (a mutual friend) convinces the two to go on a proper date so  
> they can "sort out their feelings like adults instead of five-year-olds."  
> ∙The date was ridiculously awkward until Peter and Alia started acting like their normal selves, after which they  
> had a great time but discussed absolutely nothing about their relationship status.  
> ∙After the date, Peter walks Alia to her door and, after about 30 seconds of sheer awkwardness, quickly pecks  
> her on the lips before dashing off without another word.  
> ∙This one-shot takes place the day after said date.

“How did I know I would find you up here?” 

Alia didn’t react to the greeting. Her eyes remained focused on sun, which had just begun its descent. Her feet dangled freely off the edge of Avengers Tower, swaying gently in the breeze. She wasn't entirely surprised that Peter had found his way up here. Something told her that he had just as much on his mind as she did.

Peter walked over to the ledge quietly, taking a seat next to Alia. There were so many things he wanted to say, but nothing was coming out of his mouth. He unconsciously began fiddling with the sleeves of his shirt as he tried to organize his thoughts.

_How do I even begin?_

_“What are we?”_

_“Sorry for kissing you”?_

_“So. . . you’re my girlfriend right?”_

_Oh man, Pete. You’re hopeless._

“As much as I’m not a fan of pollution,” Alia said casually, yanking Peter out of his thoughts, “it sure does make for a beautiful sunset.” 

Peter hummed in agreement, following her gaze. The New York sky had changed from blue to a golden yellow.

After another few moments of silence, Alia sighed. “You’re going to stretch out your sleeves if you tug at them that much, Parker.” She tore her eyes away from the setting sun to look at the boy next to her. "There's no point in dragging this on. Let's talk about it."

Peter released his sleeves and took a breath. “The goal of yesterday was to talk about us,” he started, looking down at his fingers, “I had. . . the time we spent together yesterday was amazing, but I think both of us were too nervous to address the tarantula in the room.”

Alia cracked a small smile. “ _That's_ what you want to talk about? By the way you were acting, I thought you were gonna tell me someone was dying,” she joked. 

_This is it, Alia. He’s gonna tell you it’s not going to work out. Just take it like a champ, okay? You're a bad bitch. No one has anything on you. Don't even tr-_

“Sorry,” Peter muttered, rubbing his neck, “I don’t know why I’m so nervous.”

"Well, there’s no need to be. Let’s just. . . talk openly with each other."

The sky's golden yellow had transformed into a bold orange.

"Right. . ." Peter replied slowly, "right. . . Alia. . . I, um. . . I-"

"Parker," Alia interrupted, trying to keep her voice as professional as possible, "while I really do appreciate how much of a gentleman you're trying to be about this, I think I would rather we just rip the Band-Aid off quickly and efficiently. You should know that I completely understand where you're coming from. You're still one of my best friends; you always will be. This was an odd idea from the start anyways. You don't need to worry. You're still Spider-Man and I'm still Huntsman. I trust that we'll both still be able to perform our duties without any issues. If you feel like you need time, I don't mind that either. We can just split our patrols. It'll cover more ground faster anyways. Everything will be fi-"

"Wait," Peter said, desperately trying to untangle the knot of words clustering in his head, "wait, wait, wait. You. . . you don't think we would work?" 

Alia tilted her head. "What I think doesn't matter," she said matter-of-factly, "if you felt like our. . . _date_ didn't work, then-"

"But I never said that. So then. . . do _you_ feel like it didn't work?"

". . . I. . . actually had a really good time. But. . . but it sounded like you felt otherwise." 

"What are you talking about? I had a _fantastic_ time! I told you that!"

"It sounded like you were saying that to try to make me feel better before you told me things weren't going to work out!"

"What?! No, no, no! That's not what I meant _at all_! It sounds like _you're_ trying to tell _me_ that we wouldn't match up well!"

At this point, Alia and Peter had gotten to their feet and were staring at each other in what can only be described as complete and utter confusion.

The orange had begun to fade from the sky, making way for deep shades of red.

"Then. . . then. . . well then what were you trying to tell me earlier?!" Alia asked, exasperation clear in her voice, "what do you want, Parker?!"

"WHAT I _WANT_ IS TO KISS YOU AGAIN!" the boy shouted throwing his hands into the air, "AND TO APOLOGIZE FOR NOT ASKING FOR PERMISSION BEFORE KISSING YOU THE OTHER NIGHT!" 

Silence.

Alia blinked, the thoughts in her brain receding in order to make room for one giant exclamation point.

Peter's eyes widened, shocked at his own boldness. His hands fell limply to his sides.

_Oh god, what did I just do?!_

After another excruciatingly long minute of silence, Alia cleared her throat. "Well. . ." she said, feeling the corner of her lip twitch, "well, you don't need to be sorry about the other night. I don't. . . I don’t recall asking for permission the first time I kissed you. So. . . let's call it even, yeah?"

Peter felt like an enormous boulder had been pushed off of his chest. "That's. . . yeah, that's fair."

The two heroes continued to stare at each other, allowing another awkward pause to fill the space between them.

Alia took a deep breath. _Well. . . leap of faith, right?_

"So, uh. . . what was that other part again?" she asked, the innocence of her tone contrasting heavily with the mischievous glint in her eye, "the part about wanting to kiss me again?"

The sky suddenly exploded into beautiful shades of pink as the sun reached the horizon.

Peter felt his brain short-circuit.

"I. . . well. . . I. . . I was thinking that maybe. . . maybe if you were interested. . . um. . . if you were interested maybe. . . well, you see the thing is. . . I'm really interested in uh. . . in you and well-"

"Peter."

"I don't think it would be a bad idea. . . if we were. . . if were were just more than. . . more than friends? But of course if you're not interesting- I mean, interested- of course you’re interesting- anyways, if that’s not really your thing of course I understand-"

" _Peter_." Alia took several steps towards the mess of a boy in front of her.

"I mean there's so many things to think about in terms of how that would affect us and honestly it's not really that big of a deal if you don't want to because it's your choice and I mean yes of course I do really really like you and yes I really do want to kiss you again but I'm not an animal I mean I would definitely be able to control myself-"

Alia was right in front of him now. She couldn't help but chuckle. She raised a hand, covering Peter's eyes. The only reaction Peter had was to increase the pace at which he was speaking.

"-and I-would-never-let-that-get-in-the-way-of-our-friendship-or-our-partnership-or-anything-so-yes-I-mean-you're-really-wonderful-and-funny-and-witty-and-brave-and-strong-and-competent-and-really-just-something-else-and-of-course-I-don't-really-think-you-would-want-to-date-someone-like-"

The rest of what Peter meant to say was lost as Alia leaned in and gently pressed her lips against his.

The pinks in the sky began to mix with purple as the sun finally disappeared from sight.

It was sweet. Simple. Innocent. There was no drama or flair. No fireworks or sparks.

But for those few seconds, everything else seemed to fall away.

In that moment, Peter swore he felt his head explode.

Alia pulled away first, just far enough that the two's noses were still touching. She didn't move her hand from his eyes.

"You talk too much," she breathed quietly. 

A giddy, almost drunken smile spread across Peter's face. "So. . ." he said dreamily, "if I keep talking, does that mean you'll kiss me again?"

Alia smiled and leaned in once more, her breath ghosting over his lips. The boy leaned forward in anticipation.

"We'll see, Parker," she whispered.

Peter felt Alia take her hand off of his eyes; he kept them closed for just a second longer. His ears twitched as he heard an unmistakable series of _thwips!_

When he opened them, he found himself alone on the roof. The only thing in front of him was a view of New York against the night sky.

He touched his lips, feeling the lingering warmth of Alia's kiss. He chuckled quietly and shook his head in wonder.

"This girl," he muttered, making his way back into the tower, "is going to be the death of me."

**Author's Note:**

> What is up my good dudes/dudettes/dude-persons? This is my first time publishing on this website, so if you're reading this, nice to meet you! I don't pretend to be the best writer or anything, but I certainly wanted to practice more and decided that I wanted to step out of my comfort zone a bit by having other people read my writing for a change.  
> Hopefully, you enjoyed this sweet, silly one-shot inspired by some head-canons created by myself and a very close friend of mine. You'll (hopefully) be seeing more of me very soon!
> 
> Cheers,  
> Aisha


End file.
